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Barrichello to run IMSA whilst Pauwels gets FIA WEC debut offer after next weeks series diary clash

Barrichello to run IMSA whilst Pauwels gets FIA WEC debut offer after next weeks series diary clash

 

 


Last year’s Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy winner Kobe Pauwels gets another chance of a lifetime next weekend as he steps up to the World Endurance Championship for the opening round with the Heart of Racing team.

With the American based team this year fielding both AMR Vantage LMGT3 entries within the FIA WEC series in parallel to its IMSA programme, occasionally diary clashes come about forcing the team to make choices which in turn give others opportunities.

Next weeks (revised) start to the FIA WEC season from Imola, Italy as well as its preceding Prologue Test still clashes with the third round to the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship which will be running this time from Long Beach, California and that has forced the Heart of Racing’s hand into its driver allocation per event.

 

With the IMSA #27 Heart of Racing AMR Vantage GTD having started so well to the season with podium finishes at both the Rolex 24 and 12Hours of Sebring, the team have elected to continue to run Eduardo Barrichello within IMSA next weekend as opposed to his originally intended alignment within their #23 LMGT3 entry in the FIA WEC.

As a result, Kobe Pauwels has been drafted into the #23 WEC car alongside its other full season drivers in Jonny Adam and fellow WEC debutant Gray Newell for next week’s Prologue Test and subsequent six hour opening race to the season in Italy with what will be his WEC debut after his recent Asian Le Mans Series experiences with the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn AMR team last winter.


 

That leaves Barrichello running alongside ‘super sub’ Spencer Pumpelly at Long Beach as all other HoRT rostered drivers being effectively ‘cup tied’ already to either the WEC or IMSA rounds that weekend.

What a difference a year makes!!

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

 

 

Tuesday, April 07, 2026 | Read more...
A healthy Aston Martin powered representation at this years 24 Hours of Le Mans in June

A healthy Aston Martin powered representation at this years 24 Hours of Le Mans in June

 

 

A group of people in uniform standing next to a race car AI-generated content may be incorrect.

 

Most of you will have seen yesterday the ACO confirm their first provisional entry list ahead of June’s 24 Hours of Le Mans which again formulates itself as the midway point round to the FIA World’s Endurance Championship.

Not revealing too many surprises when it comes to the Aston Martin and Aston Martin Racing powered runners, yesterday’s reveal saw the Heart of Racing team have their #007 and #009 Valkyrie Hypercars as well as their #23 and #27 Vantage LMGT3 cars confirmed (albeit a matter of course as full season FIA WEC entries) although we still didn’t get to see their full LMGT3 driver line ups.

A blue race car on a race track AI-generated content may be incorrect.

 

Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble, Ross Gunn and Marco Sorensen, Alex Riberas and Roman De Angelis again crew up the teams two Hypercar entries whilst the team are still only listing Gray Newell and Ian James within their #23 and #27 Vantage LMGT3’s respectively.

With the Prologue Test and opening round to the 2026 season in Qatar fast approaching in late March, it obviously won’t be too much longer before those blanks on the entry list will be confirmed.

 

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These crews will be joined by a third AMR Vantage LMGT3 crew as the Racing Spirit of Leman team return to the ACO blue riband event after their participation last season as an FIA WEC full season entrant.

This season, the team are again back within both the European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup Series, but their Le Mans 24 driver roster will be team regulars Clement Mateu and Valentin Hasse-Clot alongside Sebastian Baud who is no stranger to either the event or platform so come together as a strong class contender.

 

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There was a fourth AMR LMGT3 listed but within the reserve list as the Blackthorn AMR team find their continued participation within the Asian Le Mans Series is not quite enough to get an automatic entry into the 24hours.

Currently siting as fourth reserve, the #56 car features an interesting (so far) driver line up of Giacomo Petrobelli alongside Dario Franchitti plus one more yet to be confirmed. To us, that might suggest the teams association with Ecurie Ecosse may continue into the 24hour (if they get an entry) after their association together over the new year within the Asian Le Man Series.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Friday, February 20, 2026 | Read more...
Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn AMR round off the Asian Le Mans Season with a win in Abu Dhabi

Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn AMR round off the Asian Le Mans Season with a win in Abu Dhabi

 

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What a difference a day made for the #56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 team at the final race weekend of the Asian Le Mans Series from Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi.

Having made the relative short trip up the coastline from the Dubai Autodrome that hosted rounds three and four of the 2025-26 season, the sole Aston Martin Racing crew were already out of the GT Class championship contention despite their opening race P3 podium at the opening race in Sepang in December.

 

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Having suffered from the penalties arrived at through the constant breach of track limits in Dubai, it was presumably hoped that the lesson would have been learned before the Giacomo Petrobelli, Jonny Adam and Kobe Pauwels driven car arrived at Yas Marina.

Things were certainly looking up for the #56 crew as Petrobelli delivered a pair of P3 Qualifying positions as the Vantage GT3 looked more comfortable around the 5.2km circuit – made the easier after another inter-race Balance of Performance change for the Aston.

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Race one of Saturday would however, go down as one of those ones to forget (and quickly) after the Italian was pinged not just one or twice, but three times for track limits - each of which was rewarded with a drive through penalty for the car. That was further compounded by a pit stop infringement by the team (car not being earthed at refuelling) which saw a further five seconds added to their next stop.

With Petrobelli having driven a double stint with Adam and Pauwels seeing out the remainder of the four-hour race between them, the best that they could up with was another disappointing P8 finish in class.

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Sunday’s final race of the season was, however, something completely different as Petrobelli again took the start and quickly found himself in the class lead before the end of the opening lap only to lose it before the lap’s end with a front puncture.

Rebalancing the car with fuel whilst that was being changed, it looked like another long haul around the race clock at the back of the field. A nasty looking accident between an LMP2 and a GT car at the forty-minute mark would see an immediate red flag with concerns for the drivers, an extensive debris filed and damage to the barriers. Thankfully, both drivers were able to walk away unaided, but the circuit would require attention that would wipe out another seventy minutes of the race clock.

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Getting back to racing just before the halfway mark and as the light began to fade, Petrobelli would still have to see out the balance of his minimum driver time before handing over to Adam for the middle stint where the Scotsman plugged away at the order to deliver Pauwels with what was a better placed than most P4 position – mainly thanks to their differing strategy that had kicked off on the opening lap after their puncture.

This year’s winner of the AMR Drivers Academy saw Pauwels take on a very mature driver as he made steady progress up to third but with the two cars in front still needing to complete their third and final driver changes. Our hearts were in our mouths towards the end of the #56 car pitted with only seven minutes remaining but (whilst the lead two cars pitted for driver changes), the Aston was only there to reset the maximum drive time to allow the Belgian to go to the end.

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Taking the class win by nearly nine seconds saw the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn team sandwich the more disappointing races of the mid-season with two worthy visits to the podium for efforts. Moving onto to the ‘normal’ 2026 season, we still await just where the Blackthorn AMR team will be this year but with that already rapidly approaching – that won’t be too long to wait!

Photo credits – Team / social media

 

 

Sunday, February 08, 2026 | Read more...
Frustration for the solo Aston after the AsLMS visit to Dubai

Frustration for the solo Aston after the AsLMS visit to Dubai

 

Race cars on a track AI-generated content may be incorrect.


Unfortunately, not too much to cheer about for the #56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing crew at the weekend after they battled out the middle two races of the 2025/26 Asian Le Mans Series from the Dubai Autodrome.

Having moved across from Sepang with the opening two races of the season where the Giacomo Ptrobelli, Kobe Pauwels and Jonny Adam driven car had secured an opening race P3 class podium as well as a P13 class finish for their efforts, last weekend’s events had started with a significant weight reduction for the AMR Vantage GT3 as part of a wider BoP “rebalance” in class.

 

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However, with all the other GT class manufacturers also received BoP changes as well so there was never to be any significant benefit on track for the sole Aston Martin runner after it lost further ground on track to its rivals over the course of the two four-hour races that would make up rounds 3 and 4 of the series.

Race one on Saturday saw the Italian take the start form his P9 Qualifying position but despite some early progresses up to as high as P5 in class, the Aston was clearing struggling for pace with the teams race progress further compounded by two drive through penalties for the Italian for his repeated breach of track limits during his opening double stint.

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That would pale into insignificance going into the final hour of the race however, as the #56 car was forced to box with ‘technical issues’ that would eventually see the #56 car listed as a non-finisher.

Moving onto Sunday’s race and with all technical issues suitably repaired, Petrobelli would again take the start to the race from his second bet qualification lap P8 in class and whilst the race again headed into an immediate Safety Car period – things were looking better (but only within regard to track limit compliance).

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As LMP3 tail enders took out the GT class leaders ahead amongst other things, this all broke the pace to the race as the #56 consolidated its position at the tail end of the top ten going into the second half of the race. Progressing through from the bronze of Petrobelli to the Platinum of Adam in the middle stint to the closing leg of the silver graded Pauwels at the end wasn’t enough for the #56 car to make up for lost ground to eventually finish P10 at the end.

As the grid now makes the short journey down to the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi for this weekend’s closing back-to-back four-hour races there, the #56 crew see themselves drop down to tenth within the GT class – already well out of numerical contention for the championship win.

Photo credits – team / social media
Monday, February 02, 2026 | Read more...
Just the one Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 in Dubais Asian Le Mans races this weekend

Just the one Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 in Dubais Asian Le Mans races this weekend

 

A race car on a track AI-generated content may be incorrect.


Six weeks or so since the opening races to their 2025/26 season kicked off in Sepang, the Asian Le Mans Series is back at the racetrack again this weekend for another race double header for its mixed grid of LMP2, LMP3 and GT3 cars at the Dubai Autodrome.

Still sporting another combined grid of forty-six cars and crews, we will see just the single Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 from the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn stable part within this weekend’s two four-hour races with their driver line up of Jonny Adam, Giacomo Petrobelli and Kobe Pauwels aboard their #56 entry with the Earl Bamber Motorsport AMR again being selective in their appearances.

 

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Last time out at Sepang the #56 crew took a first race podium after their P3 finish in class whilst the #89 EBM car finished in seventh before in race two, both cars finished one lap off the pace in P13 and P14 respectively.

Track action has already begun in Dubai with the first private test session where the #56 appears to be quick out of the box, finishing third in the timing order just 0.211 of a second off the lead pace.

 

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In Sepang, there were three adjustments to the official Balance of Performance regime within the GT Class and there have been two versions of that document ahead of the Dubai weekend already as the Vantage GT3 first lost 10kg off its declared base weight before losing a further 5kg in its first amendment. All the other platforms within the class have seen similar weight reduction or increases.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media

 

 

Thursday, January 29, 2026 | Read more...
A tale of two halves for both Aston Martins at the ALMS opening weekend in Sepang

A tale of two halves for both Aston Martins at the ALMS opening weekend in Sepang

 


The two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered crews competing within the opening races of the 2025-26 Asian Le Mans Series will need to use the Christmas break to get to grips within happened between races that saw both the #56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn AMR and the #89 EBM AMR crews finish towards the sharp end of the GT3 in race one but struggled in the weekend’s closing race.

Back-to-back four-hour races of course over the race weekend at each of the three scheduled races in Sepang, Dubai and Abu Dhabi saw the season’s opener take place in Malaysia with another capacity grid of forty-seven LMP2, LMP3 and GT3 machinery with the two Aston’s part of the largest group of twenty-one such cars.


Both Astons would be fielding a crew mainly familiar with the rule set of the ACO rules series although both would be running with a ‘novice’ driver to both the circuit and ruleset although certainly not to GT3 racing in general. The #56 car would follow the usual trait of a bronze, silver and gold or platinum grade driver within their crew, but the #89 crew would feature just a bronze and two silver grade drivers to add something a little difference to the mix.

Giacomo Petrobelli would go onto claim top qualifying honours within the two AMR’s as he posted the sixth quickest time for Saturday’s race opener (as opposed to Martin Berry’s time worthy of P9) and would do so again with his second fastest lap also to pip their stablemate as they would qualifying P7 and P8 respectively for Sunday’s race.


The usual issues with multi-class racing come to fruition again on only the opening lap as spinning LMP3 cars collided with one another just in front of the GT3 leaders to bring out a very early Safety Car intervention to cool things back down again. Getting back to racing, the #56 would consolidate its then P4 running position although the #89 EBM car had dropped down to the back of the pack for unknown reasons.

As the first hour was coming to an end, the rain that had hampered earlier Free Practice and Qualifying had returned with something of a vengeance and that caught out a number of cars out, some going off bring out the Virtual Safety Car as well. That at least allowed the EBM car to climb back up the order again as the rain passed over and the race approached the halfway stage.


Another Race Control intervention for a beached LMP3 car just outside the final hour brought the GT3 field back togther again but contact between two such cars on the restart simply extended the caution to well within the final hour where the #89 EBM car was shown running 3rd and the #56 13th at the time. That would however soon change as the final pitstops panned out for both of these crews.

Although the top two finishing GT3 cars would later get reversed in order that’s to a time penalty being applied to the ‘winner’ for contact, the #56 Ecurie Ecosse AMR would take a close P3 finish (just half a second behind) whilst the #89 would eventually finish P7 in class for some valuable championship points each.


Sunday’s race start was a much cleaner affair as both Astons hung it out within the top ten in class before the inevitable rains returned to the circuit at the half hour mark and with multiple cars off at one corner alone, the VSC rule was hastily required.

Soon the skies were cleared and the track again dry as the remaining cars upped their speed accordingly again as the race topped only its first hour but with Matisse Lismont being the best placed of the two Aston’s in P10 just as the rain started falling again around just parts of the circuit as the Safety Car was this time called upon.


Still raining throughout the third hour of the race had seen the two Aston Martins again switch positions on track but both were still in close enough proximity to the peers ahead to seek out a similar result to that of yesterday although grip and visibility was still something of an issue on track but with thirty minutes remaining, the Safety Car was again called out for an LMP3 in the gravel.

With the rain again falling heavily all around the circuit and the race cars still behind the Safety Car, the race was eventually ‘called’ with fifteen minutes of the race clock still remaining. That left the #56 Ecurie Ecosse AMR running at the time in P13 and the #89 EBM car in P14 for a disappointing finish but no championship points to add to their name as the series heads to Dubai in February.

Photo credits – Teams / Series /social media
Sunday, December 14, 2025 | Read more...
Kobe Pauwel takes the Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy win for 2025

Kobe Pauwel takes the Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy win for 2025


Congratulations to Belgian Racer Kobe Pauwels who today was announced as the latest winner of the coveted Aston Martin Racing Drivers Academy for 2025.

Following in the footsteps of a long line of eight other accomplished racers including that of his 2025 teammate (Jamie Day) who last year secured the same prize in a year saw both Pauwels and Day compete within both the SRO GT World Challenge Europe Sprint and Endurance Cup Series with the Comtoyou Racing AMR team.


Their success came within the Sprint Cup Series where they secured the Silver Class Championship after a dominant second half to that season within their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3.

With the season then over at the final round of the season in Barcelona, there was still a final evaluation process that many entered drivers still had to endure at the Bahrain International Circuit where they took to the track within the Racing Spirit of Leman AMR Vantage LMGT3 car.


For Pauwel, his 2025 season has yet to come to an end as he partners both Jonny Adam and Giacomo Petrobelli aboard the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn AMR Vantage GT3 within the six race, three round Asian Le Mans Series that starts this weekend in Sepang.

Congratulations.

Photo credits – AMR / Team / social media
Friday, December 12, 2025 | Read more...
The Asian Le Mans Series season 2025-26 is go this weekend in Sepang

The Asian Le Mans Series season 2025-26 is go this weekend in Sepang

 


The opening track sessions of the 2025-26 Asian Le Mans Series are now in the books as a capacity forty-seven, multi-classed entry looks to get the opening two races in of this new season from the Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia.

Now into its fifth season, this is the third time that the ACO rules series has visited this part of Asia to go alongside their more used venues at both the Dubai Autodrome and the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, and like always, each will be a double header race event.


This year, there will be again two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 powered entries entered amongst the GT3 class – one from the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn AMR team and the other from the Earl Bamber Motorsport team but with both teams arriving this time with their experiences and knowledge of last season.

Hopefully this time, a more coherent and consistent driver entry list will bolster both teams racing efforts this time around as last year both teams played with their driver line ups according to who was available (and paying) and the time.


As we have known for some time now, the #56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn AMR will be driven again by the returning pair from last season of Giacomo Petrobelli and Jonny Adam, this time joined by the Comtoyou Racing European Sprint silver class champion of Kobe Pauwels whilst the #89 EBM AMR entry was something of a late confirmation by the team.

Originally listed as being both Jamie Day and Marco Sorensen returning to the squad for another effort this season alongside a bronze driver then yet TBA, news this week confirmed that Martin Berry would be returning to an Aston Martin (after his ELMS efforts with TF Sport a couple of years ago) to race alongside former Comtoyou Racing European endurance racers Jamie Day and Matisse Lismont.


Today has seen the two private test sessions take place for all forty-seven crews with both the #56 and #89 crews running respectable lap times just under a second off the lead pace in session one with the #56 crew then lowering that time deficit to just over half a second in session two as both crews completed seventy-three laps each over the two sessions.

Friday will see the grid move into the more formally timed Free Practice one and two sessions before qualifying early on Saturday and the first four-hour race of the new season later that day and race two on Sunday.

Let’s see what this winter brings!

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Thursday, December 11, 2025 | Read more...
More details confirmed ahead of the Asian Le Mans Series opener later this month

More details confirmed ahead of the Asian Le Mans Series opener later this month

 


The Asian Le Mans Series today confirmed a massive forty-eight multi-classed car entry for their opening round to their 2025-26 winter season that kicks off at the Sepang International Circuit in just a couple of weeks’ time with further news of the expected two car Aston Martin Racing powered entry.

With the sixteen strong LMP2 class again taking the spotlight alongside the ten new LMP3 runners, it’s from within the twenty-two strong GT3 entry that obviously grabs our attention as both the Ecurie Ecosse bannered Blackthorn AMR, and the Earl Bamber Motorsport AMR’s also confirmed at least most of their drivers.


The #56 Ecurie Ecosse entry has been known about for some time now as British GT Championship pairing of Jonny Adam and Giacomo Petrobelli step up another gear together having just missed out on the top accolades within this season of racing together in the UK. For AMR factory driver Adam, this is nothing knew as the Scot has assisted many a driver crew along the way within this series before but for the Italian it will be another ACO rules series under his belt. They will join forces with Comtoyou Racing GT World Challenge Sprint Cup Silver Class Champion 2025 Kobe Pauwels.

What we did learn today is 66% of the driver line within the #89 EBM AMR Vantage GT3 entry as the other half of the GT World Challenge Sprint Cup Championship winning duo Jamie Bell returns to the team for a second season of ALMS racing but he will this time have the frame of Marco Sorensen alongside him as the entry’s professional driver but they have yet to announce their bronze rated driver.


Last season saw the team run Anderson Tanoto for the opening Sepang races before alongside Kiwi Brendon Leitch and Marco Sorenson before Day, Mattia Drudi and Gabriel Rindone took over for both Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Depending upon just how will the within the #89 will dictate just how much of a chance that car will have within an obviously competitive class but the #56 crew is already looking strong with three drivers well versed and competent within that platform.


This season’s opening races in Sepang will be run back-to-back again over the weekend of the 13th and 14th of December before moving across to both Dubai and Yas Marina in the New Year.

It will be another eventful season, we are sure!

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media / GTWCE
Friday, November 28, 2025 | Read more...
An additional Aston Martin for this weekends British GT Silverstone 500

An additional Aston Martin for this weekends British GT Silverstone 500

 


An enhanced grid entry has just been confirmed for this weekend’s second round of the British GT Championship from Silverstone as now thirty-three crews prepare themselves for the Blue Ribband Silverstone 500 event.

The opening round to the 2025 season from Donington Park saw twenty-six GT3 and GT4 crews take to the track for the first time of asking at the start of the month and todays entry news out of the SRO sees one further Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 to add to the two full season AMR GT3’s and the Endurance Cup entered Vantage GT4.



Like Donington Park before it, this second round of the season is also another Endurance Cup round for those eligible entries for which the #50 MKH Racing AMR Vantage GT4 of Peter Montague and Stuart Hall is one.

They will compete within an overall GT4 class of fourteen car and be one of four cars entered within the Endurance Cup – three of which are racing within the Pro-Am sub-class. The opening round saw the #50 crew finish P20 overall but P2 within class for their efforts within that two-hour race – the Silverstone 500 will this time be a three-hour affair!


At the other end of the paddock, they will again be joined by both full season GT3 entries from the Blackthorn AMR and Beechdean AMR teams for their Pro-Am #7 entry of Jonny Adam and Giacoma Petrobelli and the #97 Silver-Am entry for Andrew Howard and Tom Wood respectively.

Donington Park certainly saw a fiery Italian aboard the #7 car – first snatching a P5 qualifying slot before being in the hunt of the early stages of that race. That was before contact with a slower GT4 saw the car pick up sizeable front-end damage (and penalties) that would eventually ruin their race to end the day P11 overall, P9 in class.


That, however, wasn’t the case for the #97 Beechdean crew in their debut race with yet another livery colour scheme where dogged persistence from Howard before handing a fast car over to the charging Wood saw them end the day P7 overall and P1 in class for a very welcomed early visit to the podium.

They will this time be joined by a second car out of the Blackthorn stable for team boss Claude Bovet and Charles Bateman within the #19 car. Bateman ran with the team within this season’s Asian Le Mans Series alongside both Adam and Petrobelli/Reema Juffali. Although permitted to race, this and all the other additional ad-hoc GT3 entries will not be points scoring.


This weekend’s timetable will again see private testing on Friday before Free Practice, Pre-Qualifying and Qualifying on Saturday ahead of Warm up and the start of the race at 12:30 on Sunday.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025 | Read more...
Code Racing Development finally confirm their Le Mans Cup driver line up

Code Racing Development finally confirm their Le Mans Cup driver line up

 


That long standing question over the Code Racing Development Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 entry into this seasons Le Mans Cup has finally been answered by the team today.

As they look forward to their Prologue test this week from the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, the team have confirmed their driver line up of Rory Van Der Steur and Philipp Sager within their #11 entry.


Whilst we are very familiar with the racing development of young American racer Van der Steur, Sager is a new name to the realms of Aston Martin Racing but the bronze ranked Austrian comes fully equipped with a diverse range of racing experiences – mainly within the GT World Challenge Europe Series but also within the Asian Le Mans Series and national Porsche championships.

We’ll surely find out a little more about this as they build up to their opening race of the year in Spain at the weekend.

Photo credits – Team / social media
Monday, March 31, 2025 | Read more...
Blackthorn finally confirm the return of Petrobelli and Adam to the British GT Championship

Blackthorn finally confirm the return of Petrobelli and Adam to the British GT Championship

 


Perhaps one of the worst best kept secrets was finally confirmed today by the Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing team as they return to the British GT Championship this season with one of the Vantage GT3 Evo’s.

Today’s news from the team finally saw officialdom stamped upon the inadvertent release of that news by Giacomo Petrobelli at the final Asian Le Mans Series race weekend at Yas Marina that confirmed the partnership of last season between him and AMR factory driver Jonny Adam.


With all concerned already having gained significant racing seat time togther at the final two four races of the Asian Le Mans Series in Aby Dhabi, this news surprisingly comes as just the second Aston Martin Racing powered team to publicly commit to the SRO series in the UK after the MKH Racing team came forward with their new Vantage GT4 Evo driver line up of Peter Montague and Stuart Hill within the Endurance Cup class.

Having started the opening gambits of the 2024 season with the outgoing 16A version of the Vantage GT3 platform as they waited for the Evo conversion packs to become available from the AMR factory for the Silverstone 500 event.


With the remainder of last season and the early months of this season already under their belts, the team and drivers will be in a better position to unlock the potential of the Evo chassis to outstrip last season’s nineth overall position.

The first (re)appearance of the team in the UK will be at Media Day at Silverstone at the end of March – for which prebooked (free) tickets WILL be required.

Photo credits – Team
Wednesday, March 05, 2025 | Read more...
EBM round off their Aston Martin - Asian Le Mans Series adventure on the podium again in Yas Marina

EBM round off their Aston Martin - Asian Le Mans Series adventure on the podium again in Yas Marina

 


It was another exciting end to another exciting Asian Le Mans Series race as the 2024/25 season concluded under the lights of the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi this evening as one of the Aston Martin Racing powered teams secured another podium finish within the GT class.

Sundays concluding four-hour round of the season technically began way back on Saturday morning when the second-best lap of the fifteen-minute Qualifying session was used to determine the starting positions for this race.


Unfortunately, the start of the race followed the traits of earlier races as contact within the mid pack saw another GT impact heavily into the barriers on the opening lap again bringing out another length red flag period as necessary repairs were made but at least this time, the half hour or so lost to that were added back to the race clock for a near four hour affair in prospect once the grid got back on the move.

This second rolling start saw the #89 Earl Bamber Motorsport of Gabriel Rindone hang onto his P3 starting position (for the second time of asking) whilst both the #19 Blackthorn AMR of Giacomo Petrobelli and the additional #98 EBM Vantage GT3 of Anderson Tanoto had each gained a place in P10 and P16 respectively.


With the threat of rain in prospect at the circuit, all the crews seemed keen to get on with the racing but that again lead to unnecessary contact that saw the first Virtual Safety Car period enforced for the recovery of debris after two twos had another ‘squabble’ on track. That gave all the teams the availability to pit for service (if required) before the Safety Car came out – changing the strategy of many in only the opening twenty minutes of racing.

Just before the end of the opening hour, some great racing from Petrobelli had seen him secure the GT class lead put his untimely depression of the accelerator at the wrong time over the kerbs saw him and his #19 car spin out of immediate contention and down into P11 in class as a consequence.


Again just like last time out, the #98 car of Tanoto was also going to be in the wars as the bronze rated driver performed another near identical manoeuvre into a tight left hander only to strike the rear of the car in front – spinning them off but avoided getting any similar drive through penalty himself for his efforts.

Eventually the race descended into something of a normal flow although the relatively short periods of caution came and went, the minimum drive time of the GT bronze drivers was coming to an end. Up ahead, the #89 EBM car of Rindone had persevered to be running second in class before he handed over to Mattia Drudi in a change to their routine last time out in both Yas Marina and the two previous races in Dubai.


Within the other two Aston Martins, Charles Bateman would take charge of the #19 Blackthorn car whilst Brenden Leitch would do likewise within the #98 EBM car and long a longer than usual stint of his own before he would hand over to Marco Sorensen for the closing stint.

Having lost out to a possible podium in yesterday’s race thanks to a drive through penalty applied to Jamie Day for contact, the body language of the #89 was highly suggestive that that wasn’t going to happen this time and despite a slight overnight balance of performance minimum weight week, the Italian looked more than racy!


Like Petrobelli before him, Drudi soon assumed the lead of the class and pitted from that position as Day took charge until the end. Despite dropping to P11 upon exiting pit lane through the circuits infamous tunnel soon saw the Dubai habiting young Brit try and move back up the order the class order within his available eight minutes of running.

By the end, the #89 EBM trio had achieved what they had set out to do and secured their second GT podium finish of their (for drivers Rindone, Day and Drudi) within their four race season in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi whilst its sister #98 car (with the crew that started the season within the #89 car in Sepang) only missing out on a possible P3 finish due to their immediate need to pit for fuel just minutes before the chequered flag. They would be classified with their best result of the season in P20 overall/P8 in class.


That left the #19 Blackthorn AMR team to wrap up their first Asian Le Mans Series together with Jonny Adam again bringing the car home after their earlier spin and ten second FCY transgression added to their final pit stop time for a very familiar P15 in class finish for their efforts with their mixed driver line ups throughout the year.

These provisional results see the #89 EBM crew of Rindone/Day and Drudi finish fifth in both the Teams and GT Drivers Championships whilst the #98 and #19 crews sadly finish at the other end of the table, all on zero points.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
Sunday, February 16, 2025 | Read more...